The Chicago-Kent community strongly believes that diversity is essential for a healthy and robust legal profession. The law school has been committed to fostering diversity in the legal profession since its inception more than 125 years ago. The first female student was a graduate of the class of 1891, and Ida Platt, the first African-American woman admitted to the bar in Illinois and the second black woman admitted to practice law in the United States, was a graduate of the Class of 1894. In 2013, Chicago-Kent was recognized by the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) for the law school's continuing commitment to diversifying the legal profession.
Today, our 738 J.D. students come from 36 states and 13 citizenship countries. Forty-nine percent of our students are women, and 31 percent are students of color. The law school attracts students with diverse backgrounds and interests, which is reflected in the approximately 50 student organizations that are active on campus each year. The Admissions Committee encourages applications from members of disadvantaged groups and encourages applications from participants in the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO) program.
Chicago-Kent is committed to creating and fostering a diverse environment within the law school in order to provide the legal profession with the next generation of highly skilled lawyers from all types of gender, racial, ethnic, socio-economic, national and sexual orientation backgrounds. In pursuit of this mission, Chicago-Kent supports a wide array of initiatives involving the institution as a whole, the faculty and interested members of the student body. Some of these initiatives include:
- support and sponsorship of legal scholarship and presentations on topics related to diversity and the law;
- hiring of faculty with a diversity of backgrounds and views;
- offering a variety of outstanding clinical programs that provide legal services to clients from diverse communities; and
- funding for student organizations that support the law school's commitment to diversity and to serving students from diverse backgrounds.
Diversity and Equal Opportunity Statement
As a member of the Association of American Law Schools and in conformity with its bylaws, the faculty of Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology, has adopted the following policy: Chicago-Kent College of Law provides equality of opportunity in legal education for all persons, including applicants for admission, enrolled students, and graduates, without discrimination or segregation on the grounds of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, handicap or disability, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Please also see Illinois Tech's university-wide diversity statement.
